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WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY .1 The if t, Exploring Easter traditions see ge 6 Golf team teeing off see page 7 V' " V? h 0 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2006 wsusignpost.com VOLUME 68 ISSUE 84 UsU CO 1 Logasyatoosii n down Senators restructure bill By Brute Davis campus affairs reporter The Signpost Controversial legislation introduced two weeks ago proposing to reduce special constituency senate seats clown to lour general "diversity senators" was voted down 12-7 in Monday's Weber State University Student Association senate meeting. The vole was split down college lines, where all seven college senators voted for the hill and all 12 special constituencies voted against it. "I wasn't expecting it to go that way," said Chris Koss, WSU business and economics senator who proposed BS06-07. Though the vole was cast, Ross said the issue hasn't been resolved. "I think it'll come up again until they do something about it," Ross said. The senate seats in question would be African-American, AsianPolynesian, Hispanic, International, Native American, Veteran, Students with Disabilities and Residence I Ialls. Ross said the issue of special constituencies is brought up a lot and it comes up every year. See Senate page 3 m i f ; . ,. U .1 4 i X f.- . ; ;- s -.. ' ' ' - v: ' ' " $ - nr . . .' - ' , . ... -' - f . , f ' , '..-i V-V FHOIO UV BKICE KELSCH THE SIGNPOST The Student Senate meeting was filled Monday, as senators continued discussion about restructuring special constituency seats. The discussion lasted three weeks, but the senate finally voted against the bill, 12-7, Monday. Commuter Rail (Weber County to Salt Lake City) By Brad Fidler sr. news reporter Utah's first The Signpost Si The commuter rail would stop at the Kays Ogden hub on 23rd St. and Wall Ave. (Inset) Bus routes, like the 603, would carry passengers from the hub to WSU campus. . 23rd St. Hub VHEirna . , , - Dv:, ,,,, f j 25th St. I ,:, I 'f,e t q H.- U I ' J ' 1 F . .i..a1.i.i..-a. - ? ro p r-: .".'ui.- Woshtnqton -'"I . Terrac S?' g ... Ogden -J I- I I h;ii Airioic ..ihWsber Base Lgnd V Trurt HeigtTts West DOLlililul , SOURCE; RIDEUTA.COM commuter rail system, Frontrunner, is now 20 percent complete. UTA spokesperson Justin Jones said the construction project, which began last summer, is ninning smoothly and is actually ahead of schedule. Jones said initial studies for a potential commuter rail project on the Wasatch Front began in early 1997. The Weber County to Salt Lake Commuter Rail project was included in the Long-Range Transportation Plan adopted by the Wasatch Front Regional Council. "It's been a large process," Jones said. "Back in 2000, voters in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties approved a referendum for an additionalquarter-of-one-cent sales tax." Jones said the referendum promised a commuter rail line that would connect from Weber County to Salt Lake City. "Weber State was highly considered for the overall project design," Jones said. "In fact, because of commuter rail and its connection in Ogden, it precipitated a study of a transit-way connecting Ogden's mobile hub to Weber State." Frontrunner will run from 'downtown Salt Lake City to northern Weber County, making stops along the way at. North Temple, Woods" Cross, Fannington, Layton, Clearfield, Roy, Ogden and ultimately reaching Pleasant View. Jones said the trains will reach speeds of 80 mph. The estimated travel time from Ogden to Salt Lake will be 50 minutes. Jones said eight trains will be running on the tracks at any given time and will arrive every 20 minutes. "We anticipate creating a very on-time train," Jones said. "We're building our own track next to Union Pacific's main line. We've purchased that 20-foot easement that's ours so that we can control our own schedule and track." Weber State University President E Ann Millner said she thinks Frontrunner will make both the Davis and main WSU campuses more accessible through "An ideal world would be for students to be able to use public transportation and have less reliance on having to come to the university using cars and be able to maximize public transportation. public transportation. 'An ideal wodd would be for students to be able to use public transportation and have less reliance on having to come to the university using cars and be able to maximize public transportation," Millner said "You look at Trax in Salt Lake that has really provided the community with an alternative means of transportation for downtown Salt Lake City" A commuter rail will make life easier for students like WSU business administration sophomore Dave Loesch. Loesch catches a bus to WSU's main campus from Kaysville. After his classes, he has to catch the bus to go back home where picks up his car and commutes to his job at Primary CMdren's Hospital. "The bus takes way too long for me to get to the hospital if I just stay on it," Loesch said. "And the last bus See Rail page 9 F. Ann Millner, WSU President Student Association releases poll By Jason Staley managing editor The Signpost Weber State University Student Association recently conducted a survey to get a feel for what students think about certain issues on campus. Some of these issues include the gondola concept for mass transit in Ogden, parking, safety on campus and thoughts on student leaders. The original concept for the project began in the fall semester because members of the senate wanted to know what students thought. "We had a question come up about the gondola and we decided we need to survey the students, and then we had a couple other issues come up like online evaluations and a bunch of other ones came up," said Andrea Cluff, Davis Campus senator. In the survey, several concerns for WSU Student Association arose. One question that concerned Peter Owen, student body president for 2006-2007, was "Are you aware of your student leaders?" Of the answers, 18 percent said, "Yes," 78 percent said, "No." "This is one I would really like to work on," Owen said. "Some different ideas I have in my mind are making part of office hours not sitting in your office, but going out and actually talking to students in their constituencies." The affairs committee was given the responsibility to conduct the study. Cluff was the flagship of the project, and she also agreed with Owen. "Most students don't know who their student representatives are; that was a big huge thing," she said. "Some of them didn't care, a lot of them had things they wanted to tell their student leaders, but they didn't know who they were or they didn't want to take the time to figure out who they were." Before the survey could be answered, Cluff and her committee had to formulate the questions. With the help of Chip Coleman and academic support, Cluff had to approve the study through the Institutional Review Board at WSU. All research at WSU that involves studying humans, the IRB has to approve. According to Cluff, the study had to be drafted several times, but they were able to get the study approved on the first try. One important thing they had to prove was that the study would be anonymous To do this, and to reach as many people as possible, the survey was placed on the student portal portion of the WSU Web site. Any student who logged onto their personal information had the opportunity to take the survey. To encourage students to take the survey, a free iPod was offered to a random person. According to Cluff, they received more than 2,000 surveys. "According to Institutional Research numbers and everything, it meets the requirements to be statistically significant," See Survey page 3 Local newsman recounts search for family killed in Holocaust By Cory Duclos news editor The Signpost Ixical television news reporter Chris Yanocur spoke yesterday in the Shepherd Union Building Wildcat Theatre about his 20-year search for his grandparents who were killed in a Nazi concentration camp. at the beginning of World War II, his Austrian-born mother was sent away during the "kinder transfers," a time in which parents sent their children away from the war, but were unable to leave themselves. "Jewish children from various countries in central Ftirope were allowed special visas; they were allowed to immigrate to I'.ngland," Vanocur said. "Anil they let K).(MK) of these Jewish children go from their countries, because it was obvious what was happening with Ilider and the Nazis. The children were allowed to go to F.ngland ... but die parents were not allowed to go with the children, and most of the parents realized what was happening, that they could be seeing their children for the last time." His mother lived in Lngland through the war and, afterward, met an American journalist whom she married. Vanocur said his mother spoke very little about the Holocaust and her parents, and died of cancer without giving him much information. His search began after his father sent him a newspaper clipping of a young girl at a train station during the kinder transfers with a simple note saying, "So you think this is Mom?" Shortly after Vanocur had been assigned to cover the opening of the 1 lolocaust Museum in Wa s h i n g t o n , D.C., he said he was so touched by the museum he decided he needed to do a longer piece. "While I was there doing that story, 1 was kind of ov erwhelmed by the experience." Vanocur said. 'And when I got back, I went to my boss and said, 'I need to do something longer.' And they let me do about a live-minute piece for Mother's Day." The piece, which Vanocur showed during the speech, was a Mother's Day tribute highlighting what he learned and thought about while at "I think that in the back of my mind that I will probably never have closure on this issue." Chris Vanocur, Channel 4 news reporter the Holocaust Museum. After the piece aired, he said his search hit a dead end until he decided to try to work with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. "One day I was driving by the LDS Church Family History Library and in my own backyard was perhaps the most complete genealogical record on tine planet," Vanocur said. With the church's help, Vanocur was able to locate his grandparents' marriage certificate with their exact birthdates and address. I le wrote and aired another piece highlighting the success he'd had finding the document and the cooperation between two faiths with common interests in family, genealogy and religious persecution. "liven though 1 went to the ILS Church with this idea, I wasn't entirely sure it was going to work," Vanocur said. "I wasn't sure if we were going to find anything and, if we did, I wasn't sure how it could translate into a story. And so I like all pieces for different reasons, but I'm kind of proud that tliis one could work, that people from different faidis could come together and work on a project." After finding the marriage certificate, Vanocur was able to work through the International Red Cross to find more exact information about his grandparents. "I was amazed, and I'm still amazed to tliis day, tine detail of diose records," Vanocur said. Vanocur said tine record had exact details about his grandparents' move from Vienna to a concentration camp in Praugc, Czechoslovakia to Auschwitz. Vanocur said he decided to go to Auschwitz after deliberating with himself and advice from his family. I le was able to run a news piece about his trip to the largest Nazi concentration camp, but was not completely pleased with the end result. "I still watch it, and I cnuld never get that ending right," Vanocur said. "It's tough to sum up a piece like that." Vanocur said not only was it hard to find a closing for the story, but he had a hard time f inding closure about hisirranilparcnts' death lor himself. ' " ! h ; v.- i --'-V f"' : ,1 t " . ! I r - .: . - " . ! j i I ... I'm IH I 111 IKIUA 1,1 KKAKIJ II It XI SH sl Local television reporter Chris Vanocur explains his personal relation to the Holocaust in a Taste for Diversity event in the Diversity Center after his speech Tuesday. Vanocur spoke as part of the 12th Annual Holocaust Commemoration at WSU. " There are times, like alter I went to the museum or alter I went to Auschwitz, I say to myself, 'That's it, that's it, I have closure now,'" Vanocur said. "And l never did ... but I think that in the back of my mind that I will probably never have closure on this issue." See Vanocur page 3

Public Domain. Courtesy of University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University.

Full-Text

WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY .1 The if t, Exploring Easter traditions see ge 6 Golf team teeing off see page 7 V' " V? h 0 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2006 wsusignpost.com VOLUME 68 ISSUE 84 UsU CO 1 Logasyatoosii n down Senators restructure bill By Brute Davis campus affairs reporter The Signpost Controversial legislation introduced two weeks ago proposing to reduce special constituency senate seats clown to lour general "diversity senators" was voted down 12-7 in Monday's Weber State University Student Association senate meeting. The vole was split down college lines, where all seven college senators voted for the hill and all 12 special constituencies voted against it. "I wasn't expecting it to go that way," said Chris Koss, WSU business and economics senator who proposed BS06-07. Though the vole was cast, Ross said the issue hasn't been resolved. "I think it'll come up again until they do something about it," Ross said. The senate seats in question would be African-American, AsianPolynesian, Hispanic, International, Native American, Veteran, Students with Disabilities and Residence I Ialls. Ross said the issue of special constituencies is brought up a lot and it comes up every year. See Senate page 3 m i f ; . ,. U .1 4 i X f.- . ; ;- s -.. ' ' ' - v: ' ' " $ - nr . . .' - ' , . ... -' - f . , f ' , '..-i V-V FHOIO UV BKICE KELSCH THE SIGNPOST The Student Senate meeting was filled Monday, as senators continued discussion about restructuring special constituency seats. The discussion lasted three weeks, but the senate finally voted against the bill, 12-7, Monday. Commuter Rail (Weber County to Salt Lake City) By Brad Fidler sr. news reporter Utah's first The Signpost Si The commuter rail would stop at the Kays Ogden hub on 23rd St. and Wall Ave. (Inset) Bus routes, like the 603, would carry passengers from the hub to WSU campus. . 23rd St. Hub VHEirna . , , - Dv:, ,,,, f j 25th St. I ,:, I 'f,e t q H.- U I ' J ' 1 F . .i..a1.i.i..-a. - ? ro p r-: .".'ui.- Woshtnqton -'"I . Terrac S?' g ... Ogden -J I- I I h;ii Airioic ..ihWsber Base Lgnd V Trurt HeigtTts West DOLlililul , SOURCE; RIDEUTA.COM commuter rail system, Frontrunner, is now 20 percent complete. UTA spokesperson Justin Jones said the construction project, which began last summer, is ninning smoothly and is actually ahead of schedule. Jones said initial studies for a potential commuter rail project on the Wasatch Front began in early 1997. The Weber County to Salt Lake Commuter Rail project was included in the Long-Range Transportation Plan adopted by the Wasatch Front Regional Council. "It's been a large process," Jones said. "Back in 2000, voters in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties approved a referendum for an additionalquarter-of-one-cent sales tax." Jones said the referendum promised a commuter rail line that would connect from Weber County to Salt Lake City. "Weber State was highly considered for the overall project design," Jones said. "In fact, because of commuter rail and its connection in Ogden, it precipitated a study of a transit-way connecting Ogden's mobile hub to Weber State." Frontrunner will run from 'downtown Salt Lake City to northern Weber County, making stops along the way at. North Temple, Woods" Cross, Fannington, Layton, Clearfield, Roy, Ogden and ultimately reaching Pleasant View. Jones said the trains will reach speeds of 80 mph. The estimated travel time from Ogden to Salt Lake will be 50 minutes. Jones said eight trains will be running on the tracks at any given time and will arrive every 20 minutes. "We anticipate creating a very on-time train," Jones said. "We're building our own track next to Union Pacific's main line. We've purchased that 20-foot easement that's ours so that we can control our own schedule and track." Weber State University President E Ann Millner said she thinks Frontrunner will make both the Davis and main WSU campuses more accessible through "An ideal world would be for students to be able to use public transportation and have less reliance on having to come to the university using cars and be able to maximize public transportation. public transportation. 'An ideal wodd would be for students to be able to use public transportation and have less reliance on having to come to the university using cars and be able to maximize public transportation," Millner said "You look at Trax in Salt Lake that has really provided the community with an alternative means of transportation for downtown Salt Lake City" A commuter rail will make life easier for students like WSU business administration sophomore Dave Loesch. Loesch catches a bus to WSU's main campus from Kaysville. After his classes, he has to catch the bus to go back home where picks up his car and commutes to his job at Primary CMdren's Hospital. "The bus takes way too long for me to get to the hospital if I just stay on it," Loesch said. "And the last bus See Rail page 9 F. Ann Millner, WSU President Student Association releases poll By Jason Staley managing editor The Signpost Weber State University Student Association recently conducted a survey to get a feel for what students think about certain issues on campus. Some of these issues include the gondola concept for mass transit in Ogden, parking, safety on campus and thoughts on student leaders. The original concept for the project began in the fall semester because members of the senate wanted to know what students thought. "We had a question come up about the gondola and we decided we need to survey the students, and then we had a couple other issues come up like online evaluations and a bunch of other ones came up," said Andrea Cluff, Davis Campus senator. In the survey, several concerns for WSU Student Association arose. One question that concerned Peter Owen, student body president for 2006-2007, was "Are you aware of your student leaders?" Of the answers, 18 percent said, "Yes," 78 percent said, "No." "This is one I would really like to work on," Owen said. "Some different ideas I have in my mind are making part of office hours not sitting in your office, but going out and actually talking to students in their constituencies." The affairs committee was given the responsibility to conduct the study. Cluff was the flagship of the project, and she also agreed with Owen. "Most students don't know who their student representatives are; that was a big huge thing," she said. "Some of them didn't care, a lot of them had things they wanted to tell their student leaders, but they didn't know who they were or they didn't want to take the time to figure out who they were." Before the survey could be answered, Cluff and her committee had to formulate the questions. With the help of Chip Coleman and academic support, Cluff had to approve the study through the Institutional Review Board at WSU. All research at WSU that involves studying humans, the IRB has to approve. According to Cluff, the study had to be drafted several times, but they were able to get the study approved on the first try. One important thing they had to prove was that the study would be anonymous To do this, and to reach as many people as possible, the survey was placed on the student portal portion of the WSU Web site. Any student who logged onto their personal information had the opportunity to take the survey. To encourage students to take the survey, a free iPod was offered to a random person. According to Cluff, they received more than 2,000 surveys. "According to Institutional Research numbers and everything, it meets the requirements to be statistically significant," See Survey page 3 Local newsman recounts search for family killed in Holocaust By Cory Duclos news editor The Signpost Ixical television news reporter Chris Yanocur spoke yesterday in the Shepherd Union Building Wildcat Theatre about his 20-year search for his grandparents who were killed in a Nazi concentration camp. at the beginning of World War II, his Austrian-born mother was sent away during the "kinder transfers," a time in which parents sent their children away from the war, but were unable to leave themselves. "Jewish children from various countries in central Ftirope were allowed special visas; they were allowed to immigrate to I'.ngland," Vanocur said. "Anil they let K).(MK) of these Jewish children go from their countries, because it was obvious what was happening with Ilider and the Nazis. The children were allowed to go to F.ngland ... but die parents were not allowed to go with the children, and most of the parents realized what was happening, that they could be seeing their children for the last time." His mother lived in Lngland through the war and, afterward, met an American journalist whom she married. Vanocur said his mother spoke very little about the Holocaust and her parents, and died of cancer without giving him much information. His search began after his father sent him a newspaper clipping of a young girl at a train station during the kinder transfers with a simple note saying, "So you think this is Mom?" Shortly after Vanocur had been assigned to cover the opening of the 1 lolocaust Museum in Wa s h i n g t o n , D.C., he said he was so touched by the museum he decided he needed to do a longer piece. "While I was there doing that story, 1 was kind of ov erwhelmed by the experience." Vanocur said. 'And when I got back, I went to my boss and said, 'I need to do something longer.' And they let me do about a live-minute piece for Mother's Day." The piece, which Vanocur showed during the speech, was a Mother's Day tribute highlighting what he learned and thought about while at "I think that in the back of my mind that I will probably never have closure on this issue." Chris Vanocur, Channel 4 news reporter the Holocaust Museum. After the piece aired, he said his search hit a dead end until he decided to try to work with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. "One day I was driving by the LDS Church Family History Library and in my own backyard was perhaps the most complete genealogical record on tine planet," Vanocur said. With the church's help, Vanocur was able to locate his grandparents' marriage certificate with their exact birthdates and address. I le wrote and aired another piece highlighting the success he'd had finding the document and the cooperation between two faiths with common interests in family, genealogy and religious persecution. "liven though 1 went to the ILS Church with this idea, I wasn't entirely sure it was going to work," Vanocur said. "I wasn't sure if we were going to find anything and, if we did, I wasn't sure how it could translate into a story. And so I like all pieces for different reasons, but I'm kind of proud that tliis one could work, that people from different faidis could come together and work on a project." After finding the marriage certificate, Vanocur was able to work through the International Red Cross to find more exact information about his grandparents. "I was amazed, and I'm still amazed to tliis day, tine detail of diose records," Vanocur said. Vanocur said tine record had exact details about his grandparents' move from Vienna to a concentration camp in Praugc, Czechoslovakia to Auschwitz. Vanocur said he decided to go to Auschwitz after deliberating with himself and advice from his family. I le was able to run a news piece about his trip to the largest Nazi concentration camp, but was not completely pleased with the end result. "I still watch it, and I cnuld never get that ending right," Vanocur said. "It's tough to sum up a piece like that." Vanocur said not only was it hard to find a closing for the story, but he had a hard time f inding closure about hisirranilparcnts' death lor himself. ' " ! h ; v.- i --'-V f"' : ,1 t " . ! I r - .: . - " . ! j i I ... I'm IH I 111 IKIUA 1,1 KKAKIJ II It XI SH sl Local television reporter Chris Vanocur explains his personal relation to the Holocaust in a Taste for Diversity event in the Diversity Center after his speech Tuesday. Vanocur spoke as part of the 12th Annual Holocaust Commemoration at WSU. " There are times, like alter I went to the museum or alter I went to Auschwitz, I say to myself, 'That's it, that's it, I have closure now,'" Vanocur said. "And l never did ... but I think that in the back of my mind that I will probably never have closure on this issue." See Vanocur page 3